Brookfield East Junior Spartans - 8th Grade White: Welcome

The Junior Spartans got off the bus on a cool day thinking that the Greenfield Hawks were named after the City of Greenfield and quickly discovered that the name Greenfield was really “Green Field” because of all the goose droppings on the playing surface.  Unfortunately, this game became another tale of two halves that the team has experienced this year.  The Hawks got off to a fast start, taking advantage of a Spartans fumble on the second play from scrimmage, preoccupation with the goose droppings, and some poor tackling to take the early 8-0 lead.  The Spartans did not fare any better as the quarter progressed as the Hawks jumped out 14-0 on their next possession.  The Spartans woke up and mounted a long scoring drive behind the hard running of Andrew Burish and the line blocking of Niko Bognar, Jacob Dahms, Matt Donahue, J.J. Flor, Ben Gammon, Tommy Tushaus, and Jimmy Ziegele.  Brandt Rogers kicked the PAT and the Spartans had narrowed the gap to 14-8 with less than two minutes to play in the first half.  The next Hawks series was an example of the way the day was going – their QB dropped back to pass and was nearly tackled several times before launching a desperation heave (which looked like the QB was past the line of scrimmage) – the Hawks receiver made and amazing one-handed catch right next to the Spartan defender and did not stop running until he was brought down inside the Spartans one-yard line.  The Hawks quickly scored and added a one-point PAT to make the score 21-8 at the half.  The Spartans experienced an unpleasant halftime break and came out with some more fire in the second half.  Things got interesting when Burish stripped the ball from the Hawks RB and sprinted untouched 57 yards for a TD.   Rogers made the PAT kick to make it exciting down the stretch at 21-16.  The Spartans had several offensive chances that just missed and were hampered by a couple of dumb defensive penalties that resulted in precious time taken away near the end of the game.  The last offensive effort ended with an interception with the final score 21-16 – close but no cigar. 

Coach’s Assessment:                                                                                                                                             Analysis of this game was simple – asleep in the first half, too many turnovers, too many dumb penalties.  It is hard for any team to win a game played this way – yet we had very good chances to win the game in the 4^th quarter.  The coaches were extremely proud of how hard the team played in the second half after falling behind 21-8 in the first half.  The easy thing to do would have been to quit.  The team played harder in the second half, giving us a chance to win – what we needed was to play that way the whole game.  While the scoreboard of each game and the season record of 3-5 are ways to measure the team against our opponents with a very tough schedule, it is more important to measure the season against the goals of the team getting better, each individual learning and getting better, and having fun playing the game of football.  The season produced many exciting moments, many highs and lows, and many learning opportunities about football and life.  I hope each of you had as much fun as I did this season. 

Next Game:                                                                                                                                                    This game closed out your Junior Spartans career.  Focus on doing well in school.  Participate in other sports and activities as you prepare for high school.  We hope to see all of you next August; suiting up as Brookfield East Spartans – you are losing the “Junior” name.